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Ben
Ben was a male chimpanzee. He was a member of the Bachelor Group until his death in 2017. He was born at Monkey World in Rodney's Group to Rodney and Peggy. However, due to being taken from the wild at a young age, Peggy lacked maternal instincts and rejected Ben. Ben was then hand reared by Monkey World's Animal Director Jeremy Keeling. Ben was later joined by his half-sister Pip (who was two months younger than Ben) after her mother Cherri kept putting her down and leaving her on the ground. The two siblings developed a close bond with each other. Ben and Pip were later moved to a creche in the inside enclosure of Paddy's Group so they could live amoung other chimps. In 2003, Ben and Pip (now two years old) were placed in Monkey World's nursery group and were cared for by the group's dominant female Sally. During his time in the nursery, Ben lived there with Pip, Seamus, Johni, Tutti, Carli, Rodders (who was Ben's nephew), Ash and Bryan. It took Ben and Pip to 2006 to pluck up the courage to go outside with the other members of the group. In February 2008, Ben, along with Pip, left the nursery and rejoined their birth group, which was now led by Hananya, after Rodney died in 2004. They were reunited with Johni (who moved to this group in 2006) and Tutti (who moved to this group in 2005). They were also introduced to several other members of the group and they ended positively. When introduced to Hananya, Pip approached him and acted submissive to him and was accepted. However, Hananya felt threatened by Ben (despite Ben not showing aggression towards him) and bit him on the arm, resulting in Ben being put into a separate room to protect him from Hananya and for his arm to be treated. On the second meeting, Hananya attacked Ben again, resulting in them being separated again. Because of this, the group was split in two (one with Hananya in it and the other with Ben and Pip) with the two groups using the outside enclosure at different times. On the third meeting, Ben was attacked again by Hananya. This time however, Ben's half-brother Arfur and the female members of the group came to Ben's defence and fought Hananya. Following one of his meetings with Hananya, Ben got a small cut on his foot which later became infected, resulting in Ben losing one of his toes. Following a course of antibiotics, Ben's foot healed. In March 2009, Ben lost Pip after she suffered a fatal heart attack during an operation to stitch up a cut to her knee. In June 2009, Ben (having still not been accepted by Hananya) was moved to the Bachelor Group where he was reunited with Seamus (who moved to this group in 2007) and Carli (who moved to this group in 2005). Ben eventually became a high ranking member of the group. Sadly on 18 September 2017, Ben collapsed whilst out in his group's outside enclosure. Monkey World staff heard panicked screams coming from the enclosure and arrived to find other members of the group surrounding Ben. It was discovered that he had suffered a fatal heart attack due to an enlarged heart. Gallery 20200112_230337.jpg|Ben as an infant 3745115923_cbbc41ebf7.jpg|Young Ben 20200112_225835.jpg|Ben and Pip in 2006. 5e3a9c28c175d170fcba9a7061be3629.jpg Images.jpeg-1.jpg 20200112_224730.jpg|Ben in 2009 with Mojo. 1748dcfc767d9cebfc0bb9a0ca23c1dc.jpg C3wJJ0YWMAEzsqc.jpg Category:Chimpanzee Category:Deceased